Lelia N. Morris

Lelia Naylor Morris (April 15, 1862, Pennsville, Morgan County, OH – July 23, 1929, Auburn, NY) was an American Methodist hymnwriter. Some sources give her first name as Leila, but Lelia seems more likely to be correct. She is sometimes known as Mrs. Charles H. Morris, as (Mrs.) C. H. Morris, or as (Mrs.) C. H. M., having adopted her husband's forenames upon marriage after the custom of the time.

While still a child, she moved with her family to Malta, OH. Later, she and her sister and her mother ran a millinery shop in McConnelsville, OH. In 1881, she married Charles H. Morris. The couple were active in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and attended camp meetings at places such as Old Camp Sychar, Mount Vernon, OH and Sebring Camp, Sebring, OH. In the 1890s, she began to write hymns and gospel songs; it has been said that she wrote more than 1,000 songs and tunes, and that she did so while doing her housework. In 1913, her eyesight began to fail; her son thereupon constructed for her a blackboard 28 feet (8.5 m) long with oversized staff lines, so that she could continue to compose.

Around 1928, she and her husband moved to live with their daughter in Auburn, NY; where she died. She is buried in McConnelsville Cemetery, McConnelsville, OH.

Songs

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• "Sweeter as the Years Go By"